Is it just a date or is there any evidence that something destructive will happen?

The Mayan calendar finishes on that date according to some, others say it continues with a new cycle.

However the return of Christ was meant to happen in 2000, still waiting.

If it was just the end of the Mayan calendar then I would not put any stock in it. A date by itself proves noting.

However there is evidence:

Quotes from the article: "Real Doomsday?"

Scientists have noted that when Jupiter and Saturn are aligned on the same side of the Sun, the solar activity is at its minimum; when they are on opposite sides of the Sun the solar activity is at its maximum. The positions on December 21, 2012 are ideal for extreme solar activity.

The last solar cycle was at its maximum in 2001. Each active solar cycle has a period when the flares are strongest, usually happening near the solar equator, called the "solar maximum." This is significant because the next "solar maximum" event will coincide with December 21, 2012.

Well we got through 2001, but theres more:

Our solar system is part of a huge disc shaped collection of stars and planets called the Milky Way. We're located somewhere on the edge of the disc, slightly on top of the narrow disc. But very soon we'll be moving to the bottom of the disc. This change, from top to bottom, begins on December 21, 2012.

Yes, that's right. On the same day when our Sun is at it's solar maximum, something will happen that's never happened before -- the ecliptic of our solar system will intersect with the Galactic plane, called the "Galactic Equator" of the Milky Way!

If you imagine our solar system as a bunch of peas on a plate, with a huge meatball in the center, imagine the Milky Way as a city-size pizza with the "Guiness World Book Record Meatball" in its center!

Prior to December 2012 we have been drifting on the top of the pizza, never really able to see the bottom. The plate and pizza are not parallel. They are moving at different angles. We've been drifting down, down, down... and on December 21st, 2012, we will be exactly level with the crust -- forming an "x" at the Galactic Equator where galactic gravity is the strongest. After 2012, if we are still here, we will be passing through the bottom zone, viewing the Milky Way pizza from the South.

By some amazing coincidence, not only will we be intersecting with the Galactic Equator, but we will be doing this precisely aligned with the center of the Galaxy where there is maximum mass! More mass means more gravity. More gravity means more influence from those barycenters in our Sun. That means exponential increases in solar disruptions -- all coinciding on the same day! Whew!

Yeah, but that still doesn't say what's suppose to happen to earth. More solar activity...Now what? Is the sun going to all of a sudden get hotter and burn up the earth? Is a sun flare going to wipe us out?

“I Speak Spanish to God, Italian to Women, French to Men, and German to My Horse” - Charles V, King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor, 1500–58

Llew wrote:Yeah, but that still doesn't say what's suppose to happen to earth. More solar activity...Now what? Is the sun going to all of a sudden get hotter and burn up the earth? Is a sun flare going to wipe us out?

No I don't think the earth will be burned up.

A sun flare yes, but I don't think it will wipe as all out:

Solar flares are pieces of the sun which leap into space, discharging radiation and strong electrical currents that travel outward into space. They often fall back to the surface of the Sun. Sometimes, a very strong flare, called a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME), actually leaves the Sun and this deadly mass shoots out from the Sun towards the planets like a bullet. Usually these CME's don't hit anything but occasionally they hit a planet like Earth. Some believe a powerful CME once hit Mars.

Most solar flares are small. But even a small flare can be dangerous. In 1989 a flare hit the North American continent and fried electric lines, zapped power grids in the US and Canada, and created large power backouts. Flares can also effect our moods and physical health. In theory, a large flare impacting the Earth could zap the ionosphere (there goes all the satellites, cellphones, GPS...) and irradiate the surface, killing every living organism that it touched.

A solar flare reaching the Earth? *aldan shakes his head* I suppose it could be technically possible, but I just can't see that happening. Now, strong solar flares do tend to cause problems with our electrical systems here as well as radio and other broadcast media. Therefore, cell phones won't be a very reliable sort of way to contact others for awhile, if there is a strong series of powerful flares for awhile.

Also, please remember that the Aztecs and the Mayans both believed that the most powerful of the Gods was their sun gods, and it was mainly he to whom the Aztecs, at least, tended to offer the hearts of their human sacrificial victims, so it's obvious to me that, since the Mayans and Aztecs both were nearly eliminated, and they haven't (as far as I know) been able to do any human sacrifices for quite some time, then if you believe that their gods were real and true gods, and you believe, as they both seem to have, that they needed to keep on doing the sacrifices in order to keep the gods from destroying the Earth, then it seems that we have something to not really look forward to (unless you're looking forward to being burned to death or destroyed by the Aztec/Mayan gods).

"It is better to keep your mouth shut and to appear stupid than
to open it and remove all doubt."
---Mark Twain

A burst of the same intensity as the 1997 event, originating from inside the Milky Way, would deliver 100,000 time the lethal dose of radiation, killing every life form that was exposed. Could that really happen to us?

Even a close gamma ray pulse can be damaging:

This question was answered on August 27th, 1998 when an unusual 5 minute gamma ray pulse was located just 20,000 light years away in the constellation of Aquila. This may sound like a huge distance, but to astronomers this is just "next door." The Milky Way Galaxy, for example, is just 100,000 light years from end to end.

The 1998 event was close enough and strong enough to ionize Earth's upper atmosphere, damage a couple of spacecraft and disrupt global communication. Since then astronomers place gamma ray bursts from the Glaxy's core at the top of the list of things we don't want to happen.

Cyclical and frequent explosions:

Not in my galaxy!

Ironically, all of these facts are incorporated in LaViolette's "superwave" theory. He concludes that there are cyclical and frequent explosions from the Galaxy's core. These waves of radiation advance outward to the edges of the Galaxy, impacting everything and causing stars to erupt in their path. He believes this is what has happened many times to our own solar system -- the most recent superwave of radiation being 14,950 years ago. He envisions the shock wave -- or superwave -- dragging cosmic dust along with it as it enters the heliopause and energizes our Sun.

Ice core samples support this view. Evidence of the effects from cosmic dust show at ice core strata corresponding to the years 13,880 to 13,785 BCE. This evidence, along with the Moon glass, the presence of cosmic dust and the abrupt and atypical end of the last ice age -- all point to an intimate relationship between extreme solar activity and gama radiation from the Galactic center.

Very high energy rays:

Something has changed

More troubling is the suggestion by some scientists that this powerful radiation may not require a dramatic burst or explosion to cause eruptions in the Sun. Physicists at nearly a dozen research institutions, including New York University, have discovered evidence for very high energy gamma rays emitting from the galactic equator in the Milky Way. These gamma ray levels mark the highest energies ever detected from the Galaxy.

The gamma rays had a median energy of 3.5 trillion electron-volts, or 3500 times the mass-energy of a proton. Previous satellite experiments have seen gamma-ray emissions along the galactic equator reaching up to energies of only 30 billion electron-volts.

Perhaps related to this is the puzzling fact that, even though we have witnessed no Galactic explosions or "bursts", the measurements of cosmic dust streaming inside the heliopause as been steadily increasing [6] to almost three times since the last solar maximum in 2001.

Sun no longer blocking the dust:

During the solar maximum of each 11 year cycle, the polarity of the Sun shifts -- North becomes South and visa versa. This brief period of magnetic instability allows some cosmic dust to enter the heliopause because the Sun's "shields" are reduced. But once the new polarity is established, the Sun usually quickly blocks the dust. This time it didn't happen. Cosmic dust has been streaming in from the Glactic center and astronomers are at aloss to explain why.

It's likely that the solar system is already experiencing the invasive energy from the Galactic equator as we move into position and align with it on 2012.

Energy converging at the poles:

If the Earth was zapped by high energy radiation, either from the Sun or the Galactic core, the planet would be surrounded with distinct lines of energy, converging at the North and South pole. These bands would continue to extend well out from the planet's poles and into space and would be visible from almost every point on Earth -- each with its own unique perspective.

What is Known for sure:

Substantial data suggests that an event, similar to the one anticipated in the 2012 "doomsday" scenario, occurred and was recorded by ancient humans about 14,950 years ago. This event appears to have lasted for several years in duration and was responsible for the abrupt end of the last ice age as well as a substantial culling of the human population.

The surprising data revealed by LaViolette and supported by other research suggests that the extreme solar event corresponded to powerful radiation coming from the center of the Milky Way Galaxy and associated with gamma rays. Recent observations have shown a dramatic increase in gamma ray energy in the Glaxy's equator which will be in maximum alignment with our solar system on December 12, 2012. The past records in ice cores (strata from 13,880 to 13,785 BCE) show that intense radiation could have lasted many years. It seems highly likely that this alignment will cause extreme solar events since other factors precipitating a "solar maximum" (i.e. the opposition of major planetary barycenters) also converge on this exact date.

The fact that galactic centers routinely radiate lethal gamma rays makes it unlikely that life, at least as we understand it, can survive in the universe. Sooner or later it is destined to be zapped.

We survived the last one:

A new genetic study of Y-chromosome variation by Dr. Marcus Feldman of Stanford University shows that the population from which the world's present population is derived consisted of about 2,000 individuals. Somehow, humans, flora and fauna did survive the past doomsday and some may yet survive past 2012. Indeed, many of the ancient prophecies I have encountered in my travels around the world have spoken of a "bright light" or "flash" followed by the "good seed" (i.e. humanity) which would rise up and repopulate the world.